1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an information services system accessed via telephone and, more particularly, to an information services system providing automated attendant services for subscribers, regardless of how the subscribers are connected to the public switched telephone network.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are presently many types of computer systems which automatically interact with people via a conventional telephone. One type of system performs functions similar to a telephone receptionist, including routing calls to extensions, trying more than one extension, taking messages, etc. This type of service will be referred to as an "automated attendant service".
A known computer system used to provide an automated attendant service is connected between a private business exchange (PBX) and a central office (CO) of the public switched telephone network (PSTN). When programmed by a user of the PBX, the system intercepts calls from the CO to a line of the PBX, requests an extension number and routes the call in accordance with previously stored instructions for calls to that extension number. When a person is reached, the call is placed through the system and the PBX. This enables the automated attendant service to again pick up if only one of the caller and the called party break the connection later, but requires a large number of ports to handle several calls to different extensions simultaneously. In addition, other services, such as voice mail, are provided by the same system, but typically there is little information passed by the automated attendant service to other services provided on the same system. Due to the position of this known system (between a CO and a PBX) the system can work closely with the PBX, but is limited to serving the PBX and by the capacity of the PBX.